Horizontal sliding doors, which actually may slide or roll, usually include one or more door panels suspended by carriages that travel along an overhead track. The carriages allow the door panels to slide or roll in a generally horizontal direction in front of a doorway to open and close the door. The door may be manually or automatically moved from its open and closed position. Sliding doors such as these are often used with storage structures such as barns.
Depending on the width of the doorway and the space along either side of it, a sliding door can assume a variety of configurations. For a relatively narrow doorway with adequate space alongside to receive an opening door panel, a single door panel is typically enough to cover the doorway. Wider doorways with limited side space may require a bi-parting sliding door that includes at least two panels each moving in the same plane in opposite directions from either side of the doorway and meeting at the center of the doorway to close the door. For even wider doorways or those with even less side space, multi-panel sliding doors can be used. Multi-panel doors have at least two parallel door panels that overlay each other at one side of the doorway when the door is open. To close the door, one panel slides out from behind the other as both panels move in front of the doorway to cover a span of about twice the width of a single panel. Applying such an arrangement to both sides of the doorway provides a bi-parting door with multiple panels on each side.
If any of these door arrangements are not properly secured, wind damage can occur. In fact, a sudden gust of wind may dislodge the doors from the track or tracks. Such wind damage may also cause deformation or damage to the frame or the door itself in cases where the door is inadequately supported. Thus, a more secure door configuration both in the open position, as well as the closed position is needed, among other things.